The World Wildlife Day celebrations on Tuesday were marred by the death of a wild tusker, which was electrocuted on an agricultural field at B.M. Halli village in Hanur range of M.M. Hills Wildlife Sanctuary in Chamarajanagar.
The tusker was aged between 20 and 25. Drawn by the maize cultivated there, it had entered the field of one Chikkabasappa by crossing a narrow stream of water.
The elephant was feasting on the crop when it accidentally came in contact with an illegal live power line drawn by the farm owner and installed at a low level, ostensibly to target wild boars that tend to come to the field. The elephant collapsed and died instantly, with a portion of the maize that it was chewing on still in its mouth.
The Deputy Conservator of Forests V. Yedukondalu visited the spot. He said the incident took place in the early hours of Tuesday and the tusker is suspected to have entered the farmland around 4 a.m. It had quenched its thirst from the flowing stream in the vicinity and climbed the embankment to enter the field, he said. A search has been launched to nab Mr. Chikkabasappa, who is absconding. A forest offence case has also been registered with the police.
The agricultural farm is about 1 km from the forest boundary, and it is a common practice among local villagers to set up snares to trap and prevent wild boars from entering their fields. But a few of them draw power illegally to protect their crops from wild animals.
Awareness drive
Mr. Yedukondalu said a drive would be launched to create greater awareness among the rural people to desist from drawing power from HT lines as it poses a danger, not only to animals but also to humans.
The Forest Department has also urged the Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation to conduct periodic inspections to curb such practices.
The theme of this year’s World Wildlife Day was “sustaining all life on earth”, including wild animal and plant species as key components of the world’s biodiversity, according to the United Nations. But such celebrations tend to be meaningless on the ground where man-animal conflict is intense, given the severe competition for land.
This incident comes barely two days after two elephants died under similar circumstances in Tamil Nadu forests, which border M.M. Hills Wildlife Sanctuary.
